by By Joseph Edward, Special to USA TODAY, USATODAY

by By Joseph Edward, Special to USA TODAY, USATODAY

When he was only five years old, Taban and his mother fled South Sudan to avoid their fledgling nation's war of independence against their more powerful neighbor, Sudan.

For 15 years, and most of his childhood, they stayed in a refugee camp in Uganda, returning only after they believed it was safe, after South Sudan became the world's newest country in 2011.

Today, as civil war tears South Sudan apart, Taban's wife and children have returned to their former adopted country to avoid the fighting. He's ready to follow.

"I have already sent my family to Arua, Uganda ‚?? they're going to the camps again," said Taban. "If the situation gets worse, I will join them and continue with life in Uganda."

Around 1,000 people have died so far in hostilities that erupted on Dec. 15 between the government of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel forces led by the country's former vice president, Riek Machar.

Taban's loved ones are among the 100,000 South Sudanese refugees who have crossed the border to Uganda and Kenya to escape the hostilities, according to the United Nations. Another 80,000 are displaced inside South Sudan, including in UN bases. Most are women and children, UN officials said.

The UN has warned of a major humanitarian crisis in East Africa unless the international community provides at least $166 million in aid for the refugees.

"I have seen just how badly the communities caught in violence need our help," said Toby Lanzer, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan. "This is an extremely difficult time. It is crucial that aid agencies have the resources they need to save lives in the coming months."

"There is an urgent need for clean water, latrines and waste management," he said. "The potential for disease is enormous."

The situation in the Juba is becoming especially desperate as the 20,000-strong "White Army" loyal to Machar approaches the city.

The White Army's members are mostly youths from the Machar's ethnic Neur community.

President Kiir belongs to the ethnic Dinka group. He dismissed Machar this summer after accusing the then-vice president of planning a coup.

A resident of Juba's Munuki district, Viola Keji, hunkered down in her house for three days as the fighting between Kiir and Machar's forces raged around her. The violence has since spread elsewhere but reports by human rights groups of mass graves in the countryside have heightened the sense of urgency for Keji and her neighbors.

"I feel like going out, but how and where will I go?" she asked. "I have never been anywhere apart from Juba."

She couldn't endure another day in a war zone, however, she said. "I don't want to hear any sound like a gunshot," said Keji. "It breaks my heart."

Still, hope could be on the horizon.

Kiir and Machar announced a cease fire on Tuesday, according to reports. The two sides are now expected to sit down in Ethiopia for talks brokered by the African Union and other international organizations.

But, despite the tentative peace, reports also said fighting continued in Bor, a strategically important city around 120 miles north of Juba that's the capital of Jonglei, a province bordering Ethiopia.

Rebels claim they have captured Bor, but it's not clear if they can hold it. In late December they seized the city only to lose it again to government forces a few days later on Christmas Eve.

The ongoing violence has triggered a new exodus of civilians out of the city that threatens to worsen the refugee crisis. Already, 70,000 people have fled Bor.

"Thousands have sought shelter at the UN mission's compound on the southeastern outskirts of the city," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's special representative for South Sudan, Hilde Johnson.

Executive Director Edmund Yakani of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a South Sudan-based human rights group, said that if the situation in Bor devolves further, the international community won't be able to ignore the plight of the city.

"This risk scenario may lead to serious human rights violations that may be tantamount to genocide and war crimes," said Yakani.